Supreme Court scraps allocations of 214 coal blocks

In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court (SC) today scrapped the allocation of 214 out of the 218 coal blocks since 1993.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that out of the 218, 214 coal blocks have been cancelled and out of the remaining four, two that is one belonging to Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) the other to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) have been saved.

In total, there are 218 blocks, of which 80 have already been cancelled. Out of the remaining 138, these 46 blocks can be further exempted. Of these, 12 are ultra power projects that have already been exempted by the apex court.

"The court has given its judgment today, they have accepted the stand of the Government of India that if all the coal blocks are cancelled, the Government will be in a position to move forward. Now, the court has cancelled all allocations except four," said Rohatgi.

"Out of those four, two belong to an ultra mega power project in the state of Madhya Pradesh, so those were in any case not a part of the judgment but they have been clarified that they were not affecting. Out of the two which have been saved by the Supreme Court, one belongs to NTPC and the other to SAIL; both are Central Government companies and, therefore, they are the only companies which have been saved," Rohatgi added.

He also said, "The court has given six months time to all the allotees including these 46 that they will carry on with coal exploitation till March 31, 2015, so that within six months they put their affairs in order and the Central Government gets equipped to carry on after March 31, may be by telling Coal India Limited (CIL)

"However, there is a possibility of auction process in future as it is mentioned in the law and if it is given to the Government then the auction is not required; that is also mentioned in the law," he added.

Lawyer ML Sharma also confirmed the coal blocks cancellation report saying, "Today the Supreme Court has announced its final order on coal block and according to the judgment pronounced by the SC all the coal blocks have been cancelled except the four Central Government units. Else, all other coal blocks whether joint venture or private, whether they were doing mining or not, all of them have been cancelled."

Meanwhile, former coal secretary PC Parakh said that the impact of apex court's judgment depends on how quickly the government responds to its verdict and how the procedure for reallocation of coal blocks is followed.

"The government has already taken the decision that all future coal block allocations will be through open auction. So, now that question is settled. There will no more allotment on the basis of any other system except through open bidding," said Parakh.

"If court has held that from 1993 onwards all coal blocks allotments are illegal then everybody who has been responsible for allotment has to take the blame," he added.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha had last month held that all coal blocks allocations since 1993 by various regimes at the Centre have been made illegally and arbitrarily.